Equisetum hyemale

Scouringrush Horsetail, Puzzlegrass, Rough Horsetail

The genus of Scouring Rush Horsetail, or Puzzlegrass, is the only living genus of a class of plants which for over one hundred million years dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests (Wikipedia)! And Puzzlegrass does, indeed, have a primitive look. It now favors wet areas along railroad embankments, stream banks and roadsides in mountain and piedmont counties of NC as well as the rest of North America. Horsetail is an evergreen, spreading, reed-like perennial with cylindrical, hollow, photosynthetic stems with tiny appressed, residual leaves. The stems are jointed, usually unbranched, with longitudinal ridges. Horsetail grows in full sun to part shade and tolerates total immersion of its roots in water. It spreads aggressively in the shallow edges of water bodies, so it is best cultivated in a pot unless you want it to take over an area. This plant has truly interesting form, and may serve as an accent either at the edge of a pond or upland among other, contrasting leaf forms.